DawgNation has arrived in New Orleans and so have the Georgia Bulldogs.

I hope you got to see video of the team landing at the airport and all the fanfare that greeted them as they exited the plane. It was a great example of the festive spirit for which the Sugar Bowl is famous.

You can see it on our DawgNation YouTube page if you haven’t already.

We also got our first availability report for Thursday’s game. The good news is wide receiver Colbie Young and tight end Ethan Barbour were listed as probable.

Unfortunately, defensive end Gabe Harris, who has battled turf toe, was listed as out. That probably shouldn’t be surprising given the chatter in recent days.

However, what is a bit more surprising is defensive back Joenel Aguero was listed as out as well.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs might not be as healthy as they’d like for the Sugar Bowl, but they still have a tremendous opportunity to avenge last year’s early exit from the College Football Playoff by beating Ole Miss on Thursday.

Check out the rest of our coverage below, and please tune in to “DawgNation Daily” on Tuesday morning for a special broadcast from Sugar Bowl Media Day to hear some fun and informative interviews with Georgia coaches and players.

Trivia time

Georgia has made four appearances in the College Football Playoff under coach Kirby Smart. How many of those involved two trips outside of Atlanta, not including this season?

Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

Georgia football injury report

Georgia has had plenty of time off since its last game, a 28-7 win over Alabama in the SEC championship game.

Yet all that time off did not cure every injury, as the Bulldogs had several players pop up on the first edition of the availability report.

Most pressing is the status of Harris, who was listed as out. Harris had his right foot in a walking boot and was on crutches as the Georgia team departed the team plane on Monday. Smart previously confirmed the junior was dealing with turf toe.

Harris has played in all 13 games for Georgia. He has 26 tackles, 6.5 tackles and 1.0 sack on the season.

Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann recently provided insight into how Georgia could go about replacing Harris.

“It won’t necessarily be one guy. Joseph (Jonah-Ajonye) will obviously have to take a bigger role, JJ Hanne, Kris Jones, Elo Modozie,” Schumann said. “There’s other guys out there that are making a lot of progress, young guys. But those guys, what will happen a lot of times is he’s had a brunt of a higher workload, and it might be an extra seven snaps for this guy, 10 snaps for this guy, if he’s not available. But Gabe is also working really hard to be back with us.”

Georgia center Drew Bobo was listed as out. His left foot was in a cast on Monday. He did not play in Georgia’s win over Alabama, with Malachi Toliver got the start for Bobo against Alabama.

Defensive back Kyron Jones was also listed as out. Aguero, who did not play in Georgia’s win over Alabama, had a brace on his right wrist and was listed as out.

On the more positive side of things, wide receiver Young was listed as probable.

Young has not played for Georgia since the first game against Ole Miss back on Oct. 18. He suffered a leg fracture in the 43-35 win.

Barbour was listed as probable. He has not played since Georgia’s second game of the season when he suffered an ankle injury.

CFB weekly bowl results

Final

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Ole Miss QB dishes bulletin board material

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss didn’t get to where he’s at without leading his team with confidence.

But Chambliss might have taken things to bulletin board extremes when discussing the Rebels’ upcoming College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl quarterfinal against Georgia at 8 p.m. Thursday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

“I’m very excited to play Georgia again,” Chambliss said. “The first outcome wasn’t the outcome that we wanted.”

The Bulldogs won the first meeting, 43-35, with a dominant fourth quarter that saw them outscore Ole Miss 17-0 over the final 15 minutes.

Chambliss was just 1-of-10 passing in the fourth quarter for 1 yard in the final quarter.

“I got in my own head a little bit,” Chambliss said, “and then was short-arming throws.”

Chambliss is confident his shortcomings against Georgia in the first meeting won’t carry over to the Sugar Bowl.

“It’s the playoffs now,” Chambliss said, “it’s the season on the line, so you have to go out and execute.”

Photo of the day

Bulldogs tight end Lawson Luckie and his teammates arrive at their team hotel in preparation for the Sugar Bowl. (Jason Getz/AJC Freelancer)

Quote of the day

Gunner Stockton on losing the 2024 Sugar Bowl:

“I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest, ever since. I don’t really handle losses that well.”

5-star 2027 priority DJ Jacobs commits to Ohio State

When Smart visited Blessed Trinity High School for a game this past season, he was a very popular photo op.

Band members. Cheerleaders. Dawg fans. Pee Wee football players. Teachers.

Smart, who’s known for always closing on the recruiting trail, lived up to that mantra. He charmed everyone who asked him for a photo by saying he needed their help recruiting 5-star junior EDGE DJ Jacobs.

It was a clever line from an ace recruiter, but it hits differently this week.

It turns out Smart and the Dawgs needed a little more help. Jacobs, a longtime UGA priority and double legacy target, has just made an early college commitment to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

While it isn’t final, there isn’t a lot of hope for the home state Dawgs to close the gap here.

Trivia answer

One